In the news today: Carney defence strategy, Tumbler Ridge, Ottawa called to help Cuba

By Canadian Press on February 17, 2026.

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…

Carney set to announce defence industrial strategy today

Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to publicly release today his new Buy Canadian plan for supplying the military and growing Canada’s domestic defence industry.

The $6.6-billion plan promises to prioritize building military equipment at home, hike the share of defence contracts awarded to Canadian firms and add up to 125,000 new jobs over the next decade.

The strategy aims to grow out small and medium-sized businesses and help more enter the defence sector.

The much-anticipated road map for growing the defence industry was originally supposed to be released last year, but it has been plagued with delays until it finally leaked out to an international news publication over the weekend.

As portables arrive in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., expert says feeling safe a priority

The co-founder of a group that supports victims and their families after mass shootings says a top priority when bringing students back to school in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., is to make them feel safe again.

“No kid can learn in fear,” said Anita Busch, with the U.S.-based organization Victims First.

The British Columbia government has announced that a series of portable facilities will arrive throughout the week, so students at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School don’t have to learn in a place where five students and an educator were killed by a shooter last week.

A government statement says a date for the resumption of classes hasn’t been confirmed.

Ottawa faces calls to send essential fuel to Cuba as U.S. widens oil blockade

Canada is facing mounting calls to speak out against the United States for widening its restrictions on fuel reaching Cuba, or to send aid to the country.

For more than a year, Global Affairs Canada has warned travellers of “shortages of basic necessities, including food, medicine and fuel” across most of Cuba. In January, the island lost its main source of fuel when the U.S. took control of Venezuela’s oil reserves.

Canadian airlines have suspended flights to the island, citing fuel shortages, while carriers like Air France have added a refuel stop in nearby countries.

U.S. President Donald Trump has also threatened tariffs on any country selling or providing oil to Cuba, prompting the island to ration energy in recent days. The restrictions add to decades of American restrictions on goods and services in Cuba, an embargo that Canada has never replicated.

Canada’s provinces contend with fresh shocks ahead of 2026 budget season

The outlook for Canada’s provinces is difficult to chart, but some surprising resilience to U.S. trade pressures and historical revisions to economic data have most provinces on better footing heading into the 2026 budget season, argues a new analysis from Desjardins.

Randall Bartlett, deputy chief economist at Desjardins and one of the authors of the report published Tuesday, said a number of developments since even the provinces’ fall fiscal updates have shown what a fraught time it is for economists and policymakers alike.

Bartlett said at this time last year, the outlook for the provincial economies was “much worse than it is today” as U.S. President Donald Trump threatened waves of tariffs and Canada stared down an uncertain future.

Sharp tariffs have materialized on some sectors, weighing heavily on Ontario steel and automaking and Quebec’s aluminum industry, for example. But Bartlett said thanks to an exemption for goods compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, Trump’s blanket tariffs on Canada have not had as much of an impact on the economy as first feared.

StatCan set to publish January inflation data

Statistics Canada is expected to publish fresh inflation data for January this morning.

A Reuters poll of economists expects to see that the annual rate of inflation held steady at 2.4 per cent in the first month of the year.

But some economists believe the inflation rate will accelerate as tax changes from a year earlier distort the annual price comparisons.

Today’s data will be the Bank of Canada’s first look at the inflation picture since it held its benchmark interest rate steady at 2.25 per cent late last month.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 17, 2026.

The Canadian Press

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